Rotary card holders are widely used for name and address lists, telephone indices and many other uses where it is desired to provide for storage of information which can be readily and conveniently retrieved. A rotary card holder is highly useful and convenient since the rotor will hold a large number of cards which can be presented to the view of a user merely by rotating the rotor.
The cards are loosely mounted on the rotor by means of T-shaped notches in the inner edges of the cards which fit loosely over T-shaped ribs extending circumferentially of the rotor. When the rotor is rotated in a direction away from the user, the cards on the side of the rotor facing the user are sequentially lifted up until they assume an upright position whereupon they are pivoted rearwardly by gravity so as to be separated from following cards and thereby presented to the view of the user. Conversely, if the rotor is turned in a direction toward the user, the cards are sequentially lifted up on the rear side of the rotor and when they reach an upright position, pivot forwardly by gravity. By reason of the pivotal mounting of the cards on the rotor, there is a greater mass of cards on the side of the rotor on which the cards are being lifted. Hence, if the rotor is manually turned and then released, the action of gravity on the cards tends to turn the rotor in the reverse direction until equilibrium is reached. A number of devices have been previously proposed for retaining the rotor in the position to which it has been turned. However, such devices have not been found to be entirely satisfactory. Among objections to devices that have been heretofore proposed, are that they are expensive to manufacture and assemble, not entirely reliable or are noisy in operation.